


Let Loose

by MikeWritesThings



Series: crypto learns to have fun [2]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Double Dating, Established Relationship, F/F, Flirting, Friendship, Humor, Laser Tag, M/M, Miwraith if u squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-19 04:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29869407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikeWritesThings/pseuds/MikeWritesThings
Summary: "I'm gonna kill Ramya so hard.""Tag," Taejoon reminded him. "We're playing laser-tag, Octavio."
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Octane | Octavio Silva, Rampart | Ramya Parekh/Wattson | Natalie Paquette
Series: crypto learns to have fun [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2196027
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Let Loose

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BurnedSparrow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BurnedSparrow/gifts).



> a gift fic for my wonderful friend siri who's been a huge help and good buddy these past months!! thanks for everything u do man. hope u like this!

“I’m gonna kill you,” Octavio murmured, creeping alongside a wall. “I’m gonna kill you so fucking hard.”

“ _Octavio_ ,” Taejoon hissed in warning. His boyfriend looked back at him with wide eyes, his neon pink goggles pushed onto his forehead. “It’s a game, and that’s a _child._ "

“He flipped me off!” Octavio said indignantly, pointing at the weird, triangular statue the kid he'd been shooting at had ducked behind. “And _ran away!_ Does he think he can outrun _me?!_ ”

The kid ran out from behind the statue with a giggle, flipping Octavio off again. Taejoon grabbed the back of the other man's harness as he tried to lunge after him. " _Hijo de—_ "

"Octavio."

"Ugggghh. Fine." Octavio suddenly sprinted off in the opposite direction, ignoring his shouts.

Groaning, Taejoon adjusted his own harness over his shoulders as he wondered just how he, a grown man, had ended up _here_. The last time he’d set foot in one of these places he’d been seventeen. Not much had changed in terms of aesthetic, but he still felt weird being surrounded by kids. At least there were a couple of adult squads here, too. It made him feel not _totally_ alone.

They were currently in a neon maze, high walls and low walls, weird shapes and nets to climb. This place was honestly way more advanced than anything he and Mila had ever done as kids, with its simple blockades and color-coded bandanas. The game itself was a little more complicated too.

His harness suddenly buzzed, emitting an electronic noise, and he glanced over his shoulder to see Natalie standing a few feet away from him with a wide smile on her face. Unlike Octavio, she was wearing her bright teal goggles over her eyes, as well as a pair of headphones. 

“Got you!” She giggled, before turning on her heel and bouncing somewhere else. Taejoon gave a huff, sliding against the wall he’d been hiding behind until he was sitting down. He had to wait for Octavio to tag him back into the game, and he was pretty sure his boyfriend hadn’t even noticed that he was out of the game yet. He would just remain here for now instead of exposing himself, because even if his gun was useless he could still be tagged and the other teams could use him to rack up points.

He swore he could hear Witt babbling nervously over the sounds of kids shouting and the distant blare of dubstep. He shifted his gun in his hand, a smirk growing on his face as he...

Octavio was suddenly right beside him, making him startle. “Dude, what’re you _doing_?”

“I’m out,” Taejoon said, shooting him an unimpressed look. “You have to tag me back in.”

Octavio blinked. “How do I do that?”

Figures that he wouldn’t listen to the rules. Taejoon reached for Octavio’s hand, taking it into his before pulling it up to his chest, so that the neon pink band around his wrist made contact with the electric screen of his harness. The screen went from showing an X to being bright pink again. “Like that.”

“Huh, cool.” Octavio reached up and pulled his goggles over his eyes like Natalie had, before miming cocking his gun. “I just saw Ramya. I’m gonna kill her.”

“Wait for me this time!” Taejoon said loudly, but Octavio was already running off with a springing of metal joints. He was a very bad teammate even outside of the Games, it seemed.

Taejoon crept around corners, peeking out and shooting at whoever crossed his path. He tagged the same pair of kids twice before they got smart and decided not to traverse the hall while he was watching. They were easy targets, though, so he honestly felt a little bad and moved on from that area quickly.

“THERE’S A DISTINCT LACK OF RAMYA ON THE SCOREBOARD,” came a loud, booming voice, followed by a cackle, and then the sound of about six people being tagged. Taejoon peeked over the wall he’d ducked behind to see that Team Blue, Ramya and Natalie’s team, were now in second place according to the scoreboard on the screen.

“Is that allowed?!” Witt’s voice came, closer than before, and Taejoon grinned as he crouched low, creeping to where he knew the idiot must be cowering. He pulled his pink goggles from where they’d been hanging from his neck as he reached a certain point in the wall—three feet across from him the wall continued, but there was a gap between here and there, and he didn’t know which side Witt was on. He would figure it out.

Taejoon looked over his shoulder to make sure that nobody was going to try and sneak up on him before throwing his goggles through the gap, hard. Witt gave a shout, and he saw the man jump out from behind the wall opposite of Taejoon, his gun aimed in the vague direction his goggles had been thrown. Taejoon straightened up and tagged him.

“Wh—aw, _man_ ,” the younger man groaned, looking down at the X on his chest with a pout. “She’s gonna kill me.”

“Try and keep up with me,” Taejoon said as he tagged him two more times, just to rub it in. He and Octavio were now in third place. “ _Little kid_.”

“Ha, ha," Witt grumbled. "Very funny.”

Taejoon jogged away from Witt before hiding behind another wall, knowing that Renee would come to tag the idiot back into the game and not wanting to get caught in her crosshairs. He had no idea where Octavio was at this point, but Ramya was still cackling at some point in the middle of the neon maze they found themselves in, and he assumed Octavio was either still trying to kill her or was one of the unlucky people she tagged.

Taejoon checked his own neon pink band, seeing that the little light on it wasn’t flashing, which meant that Octavio was still in the game. He looked back up then, seeing Witt wandering around, head turning this way and that as he looked for Renee. Taejoon aimed down his sights, waiting patiently for her to show up as well.

It was easy to get into the motions of this game, being a Legend. He was sure that he and the others were treating it a little too seriously—the kids and teens around them handled their guns like toys, but from what he’d seen of the others so far, they all handled their weapons as seriously and professionally as they would with a gun in the Games. Perhaps they all needed to get out more.

He suddenly felt a presence behind him, and knew it was too late before he could even think of turning around.

“Caught you,” came Renee’s cool voice, and his harness buzzed. _Fuck_. 

He turned to glare at her, but she was gone in a streak of bright purple that had nothing to do with her powers. He watched her tag Witt back in the game, Witt pulling his purple goggles off to ask,

“Why did you invite me, again?”

Renee turned her back on him, her voice dangerously steady. “We’re going to destroy them.”

Then she was gone. Taejoon blinked. Perhaps he had made a mistake in suggesting this.

Well, it was time to find Octavio again.

Taejoon moved through the maze, trying to pinpoint his boyfriend’s location based entirely on sound alone, but it was hard to hear much through the music of this place plus the noises of about fourteen other people participating.

“Two minutes remaining,” came the voice of the referee over the speakers, and Taejoon picked up the pace, searching for his boyfriend. He legitimately had no idea where he was, and was just about to call out his name when he just so happened to look up—and realized that Octavio was crouched on top of a high wall, aiming down his gun at some unseen target.

“Yah,” Taejoon said, but the other man didn’t hear him. He was standing surprisingly still. He raised his voice. “ _Hey_.”

“Oh.” Octavio dropped down beside him, looking Taejoon up and down. “Quit getting shot, cariño."

“Tagged,” Taejoon corrected. “Now get me back in.”

Octavio grinned, holding his wrist up to Taejoon’s chest and tagging him back into the game. Before Taejoon could move away, though, Octavio moved from his chest to grip at the neckline of his shirt, pulling him down for a short kiss. Something quick and sweet, hidden in their little corner of the maze. When they pulled away, Octavio said in a low voice dripping with honey,

“Let’s kill Ramya.”

“Tag,” Taejoon corrected, half-hearted. His face felt a little hot; he could blame it on the bright neon lights of this place. “It’s _tag_ , Octavio.”

Octavio grabbed his wrist and pulled him through the maze, taking twists and turns that left Taejoon feeling dizzy as he tried to remember which way they were going. Left, right, right, right, left, keep going straight when the path splits into three, right again—

Ramya’s shouting had grown even louder as they walked through the maze, until suddenly he could see her—covered in teal, crouched on top of a wall like Octavio had been, dual-wielding guns. 

“Where did she—” He suddenly noticed Natalie sitting beside her girlfriend and swinging her legs over the arch without a care in the world, watching Ramya shoot people with a fond smile on her face. “Oh.”

“If you loved me you would let me do that,” Octavio said, pointing at her. Taejoon shifted his gun closer to his chest.

“ _No_.”

“We’re totally breaking up after this, then.” Octavio took aim at Ramya, but she turned suddenly to face them, a wild look in her eyes.

“Back again, Silva?! And you brought your little boyfriend, too!” Ramya aimed at the both of them, and they ducked with a shout, taking cover from her fire. “ _Boo!_ Come face me!”

“I can’t get her,” Octavio complained, taking his goggles off once again. He looked at Taejoon expectantly, and he gave a shrug in response. “What do you mean, ‘I don’t know’?! You always come up with a plan! It’s _annoying!_ ”

The electronic buzzing of people getting tagged made Taejoon think it was safe to peek over, and saw Ramya shooting at some kids with her guns, unstoppable from her perch. He could also Witt trying to sneak up on her, a determined expression on his face, clearly intent on taking his roommate out. 

The layout made it so that Ramya was, essentially, at the center of the maze, and she had a clear view of multiple angles. But she also only had two guns.

“When I say go, we run in different directions,” Taejoon murmured, and Octavio nodded, strangely eager to follow along to one of his plans for once. “She won’t be able to hit all three of us.”

“Wait.” Octavio, who hadn’t seen Witt, sounded confused. “Who’s the three of—”

Witt sprung out from where he’d been hiding with a war cry.

“ _Gaja_!”

He and Octavio ran in two different directions, surrounding Ramya on her perch. Natalie tapped her girlfriend frantically on her leg and pointed at Taejoon with wide eyes. He watched the younger woman swivel one of her arms towards him so that she was now taking aim at both he and Witt; she hadn’t even noticed Octavio yet.

Taejoon’s harness buzzed, and Ramya’s did so immediately after, followed by Natalie’s.

“Team Blue is out,” the referee called, and Natalie sighed.

“What?!” Ramya yelled, shaking her dual guns in the air. “But I was doing so bloody _good_!”

Taejoon flashed a grin towards Octavio, but his boyfriend was staring down at his harness, which had an X on it as well.

“Team Pink is out!”

Oh. When did _that_ happen?

“Ten seconds!”

Taejoon approached Octavio, a question on the tip of his tongue, but before he could even ask it Octavio was pointing at some point over his shoulder. He turned to see Renee running through the halls, electronic buzzing following her. The game was called, and Team Purple were the winners with fifty-six points.

“...Did she just take everyone out at once?” Ramya asked as she scaled down from her perch, sounding genuinely dumbfounded. “Babe. No offense but I want Blasey on my team next round.”

“None taken,” Natalie said. She sounded proud despite her loss. “That is my best friend!”

“I didn’t even get to shoot Ramya,” Octavio groaned as he pulled his goggles off entirely, pouting up at Taejoon. “‘Nee got her.”

Taejoon gave him a pat on the shoulder, fighting back the twitching at the corners of his mouth. Everyone filed out of the arena, taking off their gear and handing it to the employees as they stepped out into the larger arcade. He and Octavio rejoined the rest of their group, where Natalie was congratulating Renee on her win and Witt looked strangely smug.

"You were so good!" Natalie said with wide eyes. "I barely saw you!"

Renee smiled, genuine. "Thanks."

"But I was good too, right?" Ramya asked, casual, and Natalie responded by giving her a kiss on the cheek.

“I got you,” Witt bragged to Taejoon in a sing-song voice. He chose to ignore him, simply walking past him on his way to the snackbar with Octavio’s hand in his, and enjoyed the way the other man sputtered at being so clearly disregarded.

“Sooooo...babe,” Octavio said as they stood in line for the snackbar, his boyfriend swaying on his feet, unable to keep still. Whenever he had that tone of voice, Taejoon knew nothing good could come of it.

“Yes?” He asked, wary.

“Wanna do the go-karts with me?” 

Taejoon stared at him.

“I’m _thirty-one_.”

“We _just_ played laser-tag.” Octavio bumped his hip with his. “There’s no age limit to having fun, dumbass.”

“No go-karts. Knowing you, you would try to do something illegal with them.” Taejoon gave the shorter man a look, and he laughed unconvincingly.

“What...no...I would never—okay so chat wants me to crash one of the karts into the wall and use the momentum to do a backflip.”

Taejoon brought Octavio’s hand up to his face, allowing his lips to brush across his knuckles gently—a rare, public display of affection. Octavio watched this action with wide eyes, looking pretty beneath the arcade lighting: bright eyes and freckles and scars. Everything about him that he loved.

Octavio’s eyes flickered from their hands to meet Taejoon’s eyes directly.

“No,” Taejoon said with a smile.

Octavio tore away from him. “You’re so _laaaaame!_ ”

Taejoon smiled a little as his boyfriend huffed, dramatic, before his gaze drifted to where Natalie, Ramya, and Renee were talking among themselves while Witt played some arcade game. Despite the childish nature of the place they were in, he found himself...having fun. Relaxing, slightly, like the others had wanted him to back at that bowling alley.

It was nice to have fun, even for just a little bit. Enough fun to forget that he was Taejoon Park, and all of the unfair things that had happened to him. Fun with the people he considered his friends, like Octavio and Natalie and Renee and even Ramya.

(Not Witt, though. Fuck Witt.)

He looked from them to his boyfriend. Surprisingly, his social battery hadn't drained yet, so he considered other things he could do with him.

“No go-karts, but maybe dinner?” Taejoon eventually offered, and Octavio rounded on him, eyes narrowed. After a moment of staring, he demanded,

“ _Wings_.”

“Fine with me.”

“ _Fuck_ yeah.” Octavio was suddenly up against him again, very close. “I take it back. You’re not _that_ lame.”

“Strange that my status depends entirely on how much I follow your whims.”

Octavio grinned, tracing his fingers up Taejoon’s chest before tugging at his neckline like he had earlier, making his face feel hot again. “Now you’re starting to catch on.”

“Um.” They both turned suddenly to face the employee who was standing at the register of the snackbar, staring at them. It was evidently their turn to go. “Can I take your orders.”

“No thanks,” Octavio said before Taejoon could even say anything—he was kind of thirsty—and pulling him out of line by yanking on his arm. “C’mon, let’s go get the others.”

Perhaps, a couple of weeks ago, he would have protested the idea of inviting Natalie and the rest to eat dinner with him—but they weren’t _all_ bad. It wasn’t like they could gain the personal, intricate details of his life just by knowing what flavor of wing sauce he liked, and when around them, he didn't feel like he had a target painted on his back.

This...was fine.

He was having fun.

**Author's Note:**

> i've never played laser tag JFKNKWJNFKWJNJKWFKnk


End file.
